Ceremony commemorating Armenian genocide scheduled in Montebello

MONTEBELLO - Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, the lead author of the Armenian Genocide Resolution in Congress, will attend an event Tuesday afternoon at the Montebello Armenian Genocide Monument to commemorate the 97th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

Also in attendance at the 1:30 p.m. Tuesday ceremony will be members of the Los Angeles Chapter of United Armenian Council for the Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide, Armenian-Americans, and friends and supporters of the Armenian community.

The monument, located at 901 Via San Clemente, was approved by the Montebello City Council in 1965. It symbolizes the first genocide of the 20th century and is in memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who were systematically annihilated at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish government from 1915 to 1923.

"The facts of history are clear, well-documented and non-negotiable - 1.5 million Armenians were deliberately murdered in the first genocide of the 20th century," Schiff said when he introduced the resolution in the House of Representatives.

"If we are to prevent future atrocities, we must condemn genocide whenever and wherever it occurs. It has never served our national interest to be complicit in another nation's campaign of genocide denial, and it never will," he continued.

"While there are still some survivors left, we have a compelling, urgent and moral obligation to speak plainly about the past."

Rev. Nareg Pehlivanian of Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Cathedral said the monument advances the cause of educating people on the genocide.

It was unveiled in April 1968 to honor the martyrs of the Armenian Genocide as well as to honor all victims of crimes against humanity.

Turkey denies that the massacre was the result of state-sponsored extermination.

Although most Western scholars agree with the genocide label, Turkish officials still stand by the idea that the deaths were the result of ethnic strife, famine and disease during World War I, but not genocide.